Male equivalent of bella / terms of endearment

Hola, tengo un novio ... and I unfortunately speak very little spanish. El es de Gran Canaria/Salamanca (he lives in both places), just to give you an idea with the words he should be familiar with, since I know they have different words and expressions throughout spain.

Anyways, he always calls me "bella", or will say in english to me "my little girl" (which is kinda weird, but I am guessing he is just translating a spanish term), or call me "beautiful" or "baby".

I want to be able to call him something back, but know that using a dictionary for these sort of things is NOT reliable. We both like each other very much, but are definitely not at the love stage, so it cannot be that strong of a word...also not anything super cheesy.

I know there is 'guapo', but would it be appropriate to say in my case? Or is it even common for girls to have pet names for guys in Spain?

Hola, tengo un novio ... and I unfortunately speak very little spanish. El es de Gran Canaria/Salamanca (he lives in both places), just to give you an idea with the words he should be familiar with, since I know they have different words and expressions throughout spain.

Anyways, he always calls me "bella", or will say in english to me "my little girl" (which is kinda weird, but I am guessing he is just translating a spanish term), or call me "beautiful" or "baby".

I want to be able to call him something back, but know that using a dictionary for these sort of things is NOT reliable. We both like each other very much, but are definitely not at the love stage, so it cannot be that strong of a word...also not anything super cheesy.

I know there is 'guapo', but would it be appropriate to say in my case? Or is it even common for girls to have pet names for guys in Spain?

Muchas Gracias

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Hi Tiki, welcome to the forum.

"Guapo" is good, but use it in a sentence, not just alone.
Hola, guapo, ¿cómo estás?
Ven aquí, guapo.

You also might like "amore", which is really an Italian word meaning "my love." Using this Italian word in Spanish, makes it a little softer and less formal. The Spanish equivalent would be "mi amor", which is a bit stonger than the relationship which you now have, I think.

"Querido" is also an option which is not too strong. It's "beloved" in Engish, which of course sounds awful, but it's nice in Spanish.

When he says "my little girl", you might respond with "mi chico guapo." You could also respond to his phrases by saying "que dulce eres", which means "how sweet you are" or "you're so sweet."

I use "lindo" and "hermoso" all the time. You can find that a lot of the words that describe women as beautiful in spanish can be changed to the masculine form just by simply dropping the 'a' and putting an 'o'.

Hola, tengo un novio ... and I unfortunately speak very little spanish. El es de Gran Canaria/Salamanca (he lives in both places), just to give you an idea with the words he should be familiar with, since I know they have different words and expressions throughout spain.

Anyways, he always calls me "bella", or will say in english to me "my little girl" (which is kinda weird, but I am guessing he is just translating a spanish term), or call me "beautiful" or "baby".

I want to be able to call him something back, but know that using a dictionary for these sort of things is NOT reliable. We both like each other very much, but are definitely not at the love stage, so it cannot be that strong of a word...also not anything super cheesy.

I know there is 'guapo', but would it be appropriate to say in my case? Or is it even common for girls to have pet names for guys in Spain?

Muchas Gracias

Click to expand...

I would use "guapo", is common in Spain, and "bombón" will sound funny ¿qué tal está mi bombón?....or ...Bombón, estás para comerte.

All this cariñito, lindo, cielo, amore sounds yucky really. Guapeton would be to inflate his ego, perhaps?? And what if he´s not so guapo?? Many aren´t.
From all I´ve seen in all the threads I think replying " eres/que dulce" about smth. he says doesn´t sound bad especially when you don´t know a person too well.
What else?..